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not to be suspected of having altered the text, in order to bring the spot within their own territory. The distar Beersheba is rather in favour of the Samaritans, as the distance between Beersheba and Moreh is a good thre journey; whilst that between Beersheba and Jerusalem is too short, unless some detaining circumstance occu the road. The Mohammedans contend that the site of the transaction is the spot on which their famous te Mecca (the Kaaba) was afterwards built. But in this, as well as in other circumstances, they substitute Ishr Isaac. It seems singular that the Jews, the Samaritans, and the Mohammedans should all wish to fix this the site of their respective temples.

8. " A Lamb" (se, Heb.). -The Arabic renders it by hemel, which is applied to the young of any kind of catt so we find in the Hebrew, that se is indifferently used in speaking either of the sheep or the goat.

9.-"bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood." -Josephus says that Isaac was at this time five years of age. He was certainly a grown-up man, and it is not to be supposed that his aged father did o use any coercion on this occasion. Though Abraham evaded an explanation in the first instance, he probably ex the divine command, at the last moment, to Isaac, who acquiesced in the necessity of obedience. We shall hav sion hereafter to remark on the custom of parents offering their children in sacrifice, and shall only here obser many commentators have thought that the usage arose from this act of Abraham ill understood and appliec incline, however, to the opinion of those who think that the practice already prevailed in Canaan, and that Al had become so familiarized to it as to lessen the surprise which a command of this nature must have inspired. view also tends to exalt the faith of Abraham, as it must have lessened any expectation he might else have ente that the demand would not be actually enforced. From the tone of the whole narrative it is evident that Al was prepared to the fullest extent of obedience; and from the account which St. Paul gives of the transaction (E 17-19), it appears, that while thus prepared to obey the divine command, he reconciled its apparent diser with the promise of a numerous posterity through Isaac, by believing "that God was able to raise him up eve

the dead."

13. "Aram” (ail)-in Arabic kebsh, a ram; and by analogy a prince or chief, since the ram is the leader of the If we might suppose that the ram in this instance had four horns, like some examples occasionally seen amor Asiatic races, as well as in a breed common in the north of Europe, his liability to be caught by the horn thick-grown, tangled underwood must have been very great. It is easy to see, by a contemplation of the that a bunch of horns so variously twisted and "crankled" would have involved the animal in fresh difficulties ever way he turned in attempting to extricate himself. Mohammedan writers say, that the horns of the ram in qu were fixed upon the Kaaba or temple of Mecca by the early Arabians; and that, to remove occasion of idolatry were taken down by Mohammed.

17. "In blessing 1 will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed." This form of expression freq occurs in our translation, and is a literal Hebrew idiom. It renders the sense intense by repeating the expressi which it is conveyed. Here it imports, "I will exceedingly bless-I will exceedingly multiply."

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2 And Sarah died in Kirjath-arba; the same is Hebron in the land of Canaan: and Abraham came to mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her.

3 And Abraham stood up from before his dead, and spake unto the sons of Heth, saying,

4 I am a stranger and a sojourner with you give me a possession of a buryingplace with you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight.

5 And the children of Heth answered Abraham, saying unto him,

6 Hear us, my lord, thou art a mighty prince among us: in the choice of our sepulchres bury thy dead; none of us shall withhold from thee his sepulchre, but that thou mayest bury thy dead.

8 And he communed with them, sa If it be your mind that I should bury dead out of my sight; hear me, and en for me to Ephron the son of Zohar,

9 That he may give me the cave of M pelah, which he hath, which is in the er his field; for as much money as it is w he shall give it me for a possession of a b ing-place amongst you.

10 And Ephron dwelt among the child of Heth: and Ephron the Hittite answ Abraham in the audience of the childre Heth, even of all that went in at the gat his city, saying,

11 Nay, my lord, hear me: the field gi thee, and the cave that is therein, I giv thee; in the presence of the sons of people give I it thee: bury thy dead.

12 And Abraham bowed down him before the people of the land.

13 And he spake unto Ephron in audience of the people of the land, sayi But if thou wilt give it, I pray thee, hear I will give thee money for the field; tak of me, and I will bury my dead there.

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is worth four hundred shekels of silver; | all the borders round about, were made

what is that betwixt me and thee? bury
therefore thy dead.

16 And Abraham hearkened unto Ephron:
and Abraham weighed to Ephron the silver,
which he had named in the audience of the
sons of Heth, four hundred shekels of silver,
current money with the merchant.

17 And the field of Ephron, which was in Machpelah, which was before Mamre, the field, and the cave which was therein, and all the trees that were in the field, that were in ❘

18 Unto Abraham for a possession in presence of the children of Heth, befor that went in at the gate of his city.

19 And after this, Abraham buried S his wife in the cave of the field of Machp before Mamre: the same is Hebron in land of Canaan.

20 And the field, and the cave tha therein, were made sure unto Abrahan a possession of a burying-place by the of Heth.

Verse 2. "Abraham came to mourn for Sarah."-Harmer thinks that this means that, according to a custom a the Syrians and Greeks of mourning at the door within which a dead body lay, Abraham came from his own te sit mourning on the ground at the door of Sarah's. But from the particular manner in which the place of her is mentioned, and in which it is there said that Abraham came to mourn, we should rather infer that the patriarc absent from Hebron at the time of her death, but hastened thither to perform the last duties when he receive intelligence. A tradition, of little weight, states that she died while Abraham was absent to sacrifice Isaac, and her death was caused by hearing that the sacrifice had been actually consummated. But she must have lived years after the transaction in the last chapter.

a cave:

11. "The field give I thee," &c. In after-times we find that the Hittites were not at all a popular people wit Israelites. This Ephron is the first of that nation who comes under our notice; and his tone and manner o occasion do no great credit to his tribe. We are not surprised that Ephron's respectful and seemingly liberal co has been beheld favourably in Europe, for only one who has been in the East can properly appreciate the rich talism it exhibits. We will therefore state the transaction as illustrated by what we have ourselves seen in F Abraham wishes to purchase of Ephron a certain field containing a Ephron, feeling the value of the opport of laying, or seeming to lay, under obligation so great a person as Abraham, makes a parade of his readiness t it:-"The field give I thee, and the cave that is therein, I give it thee; in the presence of the sons of my people it thee." This is exquisitely oriental, as will be seen by the following extract from Mr. Frazer's Journey Khorasan:'-"The least a Persian says when he receives you is, that he is your slave; that his house, and all i tains-nay, the town and country are all yours; to dispose of at your pleasure. Every thing you acciden notice-his calleeons (water smoking-pipes), his horse, equipage, clothes--are all Peshcush-e-Sahib-presents for acceptance." This mode of address, as Francklin observes, is not confined to the great; but the meanest artisa not hesitate to offer the city of Shiraz, with all its appurtenances, as a present to a stranger on his arrival. All t understood to mean no more than "Your obedient, humble servant," at the end of our letters. But it often hap that if the stranger be a person of wealth or influence, the man is really anxious to force upon his acceptance article he happens to admire, or expresses a wish to purchase. But if the stranger is inconsiderate enough to acce it will not be long before he discovers that by this act he is considered to have given the person a claim either his good offices and favour, or for a present of much more than equal value in return. If, like Abraham, he u stands these matters, and is not disposed to receive such obligation, his best course is either "not to admire" at to insist on at once paying the value of that which attracts his admiration. In the latter case, the man will nam price, like Ephron, in a slight way, as a thing of no consequence: "It is worth so much; what is that betwis and thee?" But when the money is produced, he counts it carefully, and transfers it to the pocket or bosom of hi in a business-like manner, without any indication that shekels of silver are undervalued by him.

15. "Me and thee." We all know what a proof of arrogance or ignorance it is considered for a person to himself before another, even though that other should be an inferior; and what odium Cardinal Wolsey incurre writing himself before the king, -" Ego et rex meus." Yet here Ephron mentions himself before Abraham, to he nevertheless speaks with great respect: and David, while he continues to treat Saul as his sovereign, and ap before him in a most submissive attitude, uses the same expression, "me and thee" (1 Sam. xxv. 12). This wa therefore considered disrespectful even in an inferior; nor is it now in the East-at least not in Persia-when strict and minutely regulated etiquette of society does not regard this practice as improper.

17, 18. "The field of Ephron, which was in Machpelah, which was before Mamre," &c. - We need not refer to the for an illustration of this most remarkable document. Our own title-deeds, conveyances, and other law forms. their minute specification of details, seem to be most faithfully constructed on the model which it offers.

19. "The cave of the field of Machpelah." This chapter affords the earliest notice of the practice, which was form very prevalent in the East, of depositing the dead in natural or artificial caves, great numbers of which are still found in Palestine, Syria, Egypt, and Persia. In the mountainous country of southern Palestine there are abune of natural caves in the rocks, which might easily be formed into commodious sepulchral vaults; and where natural caves were wanting, sepulchres were hewn in the rock for such families as were able to incur the noce expense; for this was the mode of sepulchre decidedly preferred by those who could obtain it. The arrangemen extent of these caves varied with circumstances. Those in the declivity of a mountain were often cut in horizont but to others there was usually a descent by steps from the surface. The roofs of the vaults are commonly are and sometimes, in the more spacious vaults, supported by colonnades. These rocky chambers are generally spac being obviously family vaults, intended to receive several dead bodies. Niches, about six or seven feet deep usually cut in the sides of the vault, each adapted to receive a single corpse; but in some vaults small room cut in the same manner; and in others, stone slabs of the same length are fixed horizontally against the walls, out of the rock, one above another, serving as shelves on which the corpses were deposited: in others, how floor itself is excavated for the reception of the dead, in compartments of various depths, and in the shape of a c

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SEPULCHRAL CAVES IN THE CLIFFS OF WADY MOUSA (IN MOUNT SEIR). FROM LABORDE.

sarcophagus. The vaults are always dark, the only opening being the narrow entrance, which is usually clos a large stone rolled to its mouth; although some of a superior description are shut by stone doors, hung same manner as the doors of houses, by pivots turning in holes in the architrave above and in the threshold Some of these vaults consist of several chambers, one within another, connected by passages. The innermost cha are usually deeper than the exterior, with a descent of several steps. When there is more than one chamb outermost seems to have been a sort of ante-room, the walls being seldom occupied with sepulchral niches or s This cave of Machpelah became, after the purchase by Abraham, the family sepulchre of the Hebrew patri and it is reasonable to conclude that it was of superior size, and contained more than one apartment. Spanish Jew, Benjamin of Tudela, visited the place about 650 years ago; and as his account is precis interesting, we quote it from 'Purchas his Pilgrimes," 1625. "I came to Hebron, seated in a plaine; for H the ancient metropolitan citie, stood upon an hill, but it is now desolate. But in the valley there is valley a field, w there is a duplicitie, that is, as it were, two little valleyes, and there the citie is placed; and there is an huge there called Saint Abraham, and that place was the synagogue of the lewes, at what time the country was pos by by the Ismaelites. But the Gentiles, who afterwards obtayned and held the same, built sixe sepulchres temple, by the names of Abraham, Sara, Isaac, Rebecca, Iacob, and Lia (Leah). And the inhabitants now to pilgrimes that they are the monuments of the patriarkes; and great summes of money are offered there. surely, to any lew coming thither, and offering the porters a reward, the cave is shewed, with the iron gate o which from antiquitie remayneth yet there. And a man goeth down with a lamp-light into the first cave, nothing is found, nor also in the second, untill he enter the thir third, in which there are the sixe monuments, th right over against the other; and each of them are engraven with characters, and distinguished by the names of one of them after this manner, -Sepulchrum Abraham patris nostri, super quem pax sit; and so the rest, after the example. And a lampe perpetually burneth in the cave, day and night; the officers of the temple continually tering oile for the maintenance thereof. Also, in the self-same cave, there are tuns full of the bones of the a Israelites, brought thither by the families of Israel, which even untill this day remayne in the self-same place." curious account agrees pretty well with the above general description. The word Machpelah means "double," a rather to the field containing the cave than to the cave itself. Benjamin's mention of the two valleys formi Purchas translates, "the field of duplicity," explains the application tion which has perplexed Calmet and others. who was there early in the seventeenth century, and who describes the valley of Hebron as "the most pregnan pleasant valley that ever eye beheld," mentions the "goodly temple" built by the empress Helena, the mot Constantine, and afterwards changed into a mosque, as a place of much resort to Moslem pilgrims, John San was there in the summer of 1601, and the account he gives agrees, as far as it goes, with that of the Spanish Jew access to the cave was more restricted than it seems to have been in the time of the latter. He says, " Int tombe not any are suffered to enter, but at a square hole through a thick wall they may discern a little light

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is so incompatible with all others, and with the reports of the Turks, that it is difficult to admit its accu According to all other statements, the sepulchre is a deep and spacious cavern, cut out of the solid rock opening to which is in the centre of the mosque, and is seldom entered even by Moslems: but Ali Bey seen describe each separate tomb as in a distinct room, on the level of the floor of the mosque. These rooms have entrances guarded by iron gates, and by wooden doors plated with silver, with bolts and padlocks of the same m He says, "All the sepulchres of the patriarchs are covered with rich carpets of green silk, magnificently embroi with gold; those of their wives are red, embroidered in like manner. The sultans of Constantinople furnish carpets, which are renewed from time to time. I counted nine, one over the other, upon the sepulchre of Abra The rooms also which contain the tombs are covered with rich carpets." We can only reconcile this with other s ments by supposing that the Turks have put these monuments upon the level of the floor, immediately over supposed resting-places of the patriarchs in the cave underneath; and that, instead of conducting them into the c these tombs above ground are shown to ordinary visiters.

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AND Abraham was old, and well stricken in age: and the LORD had blessed Abraham in all things.

2 And Abraham said unto his eldest servant of his house, that ruled over all that he had, Put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh:

3 And I will make thee swear by the LORD, the God of heaven, and the God of earth, that thou shalt not take a wife unto my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell:

4 But thou shalt go unto my country, and to my kindred, and take a wife unto my son

Isaac.

5 And the servant said unto him, Peradventure the woman will not be willing to follow me unto this land: must I needs bring thy son again unto the land from whence thou camest?

6 And Abraham said unto him, Beware thou that thou bring not my son thither again.

7 The LORD God of heaven, which took me from my father's house, and from the land of my kindred, and which spake unto me, and that sware unto me, saying, Unto thy seed will I give this land; he shall send his angel before thee, and thou shalt take a wife unto my son from thence.

8 And if the woman will not be willing to follow thee, then thou shalt be clear from this my oath: only bring not my son thither again. 9 And the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master, and sware to

ther aden

him concoming th

10 And the servant took ten camel the camels of his master, and departed; all the goods of his master were in his ha and he arose, and went to Mesopotamia, u the city of Nahor.

11 And he made his camels to kneel dwithout the city by a well of water at time of the evening, even the time that men go out to draw water.

12 And he said, O LORD God of master Abraham, I pray thee, send me g speed this day, and shew kindness unto master Abraham.

13 Behold, I stand here by the wel water; and the daughters of the men of city come out to draw water:

14 And let it come to pass, that damsel to whom I shall say, Let down pitcher, I pray thee, that I may drink; she shall say, Drink, and I will give camels drink also: let the same be she thou hast appointed for thy servant Isa and thereby shall I know that thou I shewed kindness unto my master.

15 And it came to pass before he done speaking, that, behold, Rebekah ca out, who was born to Bethuel, son of I cah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham's brot with her pitcher upon her shoulder.

16 And the damsel was very fair to 1 upon, a virgin, neither had any man kne her: and she went down to the well, filled her pitcher, and came up.

17 And the servant ran to meet her, said, Let me, I pray thee, drink a little ter of thy pitcher.

18 And she said, Drink, my lord: and hasted, and let down her pitcher upon hand, and gave him drink.

19 And when she had done giving drink, she said, I will draw water for camels also, until they have done drinkin

20 And she hasted, and emptied her pite into the trough, and ran again unto the

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21 And the man wondering at her held his peace, to wit whether the LORD had made his journey prosperous or not.

22 And it came to pass, as the camels had done drinking, that the man took a golden earring of half a shekel weight, and two bracelets for her hands of ten shekels weight of gold;

23 And said, Whose daughter art thou? tell me, I pray thee: is there room in thy father's house for us to lodge in?

24 And she said unto him, I am the daughter of Bethuel the son of Milcah, which she bare unto Nahor.

25 She said moreover unto him, We have both straw and provender enough, and room to lodge in.

26 And the man bowed down his head, and worshipped the LORD.

27 And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of my master Abraham, who hath not left destitute my master of his mercy and his truth: I being in the way, the LORD led me to the house of my master's brethren.

28 And the damsel ran, and told them of her mother's house these things.

29 And Rebekah had a brother, and his name was Laban: and Laban ran out unto the man, unto the well.

30 And it came to pass, when he saw the earring and bracelets upon his sister's hands, and when he heard the words of Rebekah his sister, saying, Thus spake the man unto me; that he came unto the man; and, behold, he stood by the camels at the well.

31 And he said, Come in, thou blessed of the LORD; wherefore standest thou without? for I have prepared the house, and room for the camels.

32 And the man came into the house: and ungirded his camels, and he gave straw and provender for the camels, and water to wash his feet, and the men's feet that were with him.

33 And there was set meat before him to eat: but he said I will not eat, until I have told mine errand. And he said, Speak on. 34 And he said, I am Abraham's servant. 35 And the LORD hath blessed my master greatly; and he is become great: and he hath given him flocks, and herds, and silver,

son to my master when she was old unto him hath he given all that he hat

37 And my master made me swear, ing, Thou shalt not take a wife to my s the daughters of the Canaanites, in v land I dwell:

38 But thou shalt go unto my fat house, and to my kindred, and take a unto my son.

39 And I said unto my master, P. venture the woman will not follow me.

40 And he said unto me, The LOR fore whom I walk will send his angel thee, and prosper thy way; and thou take a wife for my son of my kindred, of my father's house:

41 Then shalt thou be clear from thi oath, when thou comest to my kindred; if they give not thee one, thou shalt be from my oath.

42 And I came this day unto the and said, O LORD God of my master A ham, if now thou do prosper my way w I go:

43 Behold, I stand by the well of w and it shall come to pass, that when virgin cometh forth to draw water, and to her, Give me, I pray thee, a little v of thy pitcher to drink;

44 And she say to me, Both drink t and I will also draw for thy camels: le same be the woman whom the LORD appointed out for my master's son.

45 And before I had done speakin mine heart, behold, Rebekah came forth her pitcher on her shoulder; and she down unto the well and drew water: a said unto her, Let me drink, I pray the

46 And she made haste, and let down pitcher from her shoulder, and said, Di and I will give thy camels drink also: drank, and she made the camels drink

47 And I asked her, and said, W. daughter art thou? And she said, daughter of Bethuel, Nahor's son, w Milcah bare unto him and I put the ring upon her face, and the bracelets u her hands.

48 And I bowed down my head, worshipped the LORD, and blessed the L God of my master Abraham, which had me in the right way to take my mast

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